The last couple of Nora's big romantic suspense books have been heavy on teaching us something--dog training in The Search, running a big cat refuge in Black Hills, fighting forest fires in Chasing Fire. This book has none of the instruction manual to it. Hooray! Don't get me wrong , I really liked the previous books--but this book I love.
Our hero and heroine are wonderful. Brooks (our hero)is smart, funny, competent, strong and a real guy. Abigail, our on-the-run heroine, is scary-intelligent but socially awkward. And she fascinates Brooks no end. All of the conversations are a delight. And she is almost befuddled by having to deal with emotions, rather than data. Watching her grow is a treat.
One of Nora's major strengths is portraying families--Brook's parents and sisters are nicely presented, even though they aren't on the page that often. We definitely get the idea that Brooks was raised with love and affection.
The residents of the small town are nicely sketched. The baddies are fairly restrained--only one slips over the boundaries(IMHO), and his descent into craziness is not totally unexpected.
The unfolding of the story is different in that Nora stands our preconceived expectations on their heads. To say more would be spoiler-ish. I kept being surprised and I liked that! The final resolution was, for me, very satisfactory, and quite in keeping with our heroine's talents and desires.
I've read it twice already and expect to re-read it a number of times over the following years.
It is worthy to be Nora's 200th book.